Windows 7 SSD Bootmgr missing resets when powered off

Hoping for some tips on this one experts: ..Windows7 64 bit installed on ASUS M4A785-M motherboard with AMD Athlon II X2 Regor CPU. The MB Bios is updated to the latest as of 8-15-2010. There doesn't appear to be a firmware update available for the Corsair Force CSSD-F60 SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD).

Problem: After some seemingly random time of idle activity - never when I'm using it - the system goes offline with a MISSING BOOTMGR message. CTR-ALT-DEL to boot to BIOS screen shows the SSD drive is completeley missing. If I then turn off the power supply then turn it on again the SSD drive is now visible in the BIOS and system functions normally except of course for the 'windows was not shut down properly' message.

I've turned off every screen saver, power management, and otherwise hunted for anything that might be trying to put the SSD to sleep but of course I may have missed something so all suggestions are welcome.

I've also tried leaving active windows open like windows media player looping music or a continuous feed from a webcam. That didn't work either. It seems only an active session of some kind will prevent the problem.

Treat the issue as if you had it with a mechanical HDD. If you did, it would be obvious that the disk was unreliable and should be replaced. Do the same. Contact Corsair to investigate a warranty replacement.

your right about it being a power management issue. the trick is finding where its going offline.

check the obvious... make sure the cables are plugged in tight. on the motherboard/psu and the drive itself.

make sure the power settings in BIOS are all disabled. the OS will handle it anyway, so nothing should be enabled at all except supported modes. (things like s3/s5 suspend can be left on, since those settings just present options to the OS level)

in windows, make sure that you update the driver for the sata controllers. often times the windows defaults offer less performance anyway, or lack complete control of the device.

sometimes additional power options will be in the drive itself. you have to look for the controller in the device manager to see that.

if you are using an add-in sata controller, make sure the settings for the slot that you have it in are set correctly. if you are using a PCIE card, the PCIE power management needs to be set to not sleep.
if its in a PCI slot, then check with the motherboard manual for IRQ sharing. you want to use a slot that is not already in use by the video or on bard controllers.

finally if you have the device in a raid controller and have the raid mode enabled in bios, check the raid software for additional controls. it may have its own power management features,

if you dont find anything, then I agree dlethe, the drive itself is most likely failing.

Haven't been able to nail this down yet. Experimenting with BIOS settings - no changes have been helpful so far. This morning I found the system in the same state (after auto update happened - update installed - windows restarted fine - but then hard drive was gone after less than an hour of idle).

I had been keeping it alive by having an open RDP session and that held it stable until the auto update happened.

Sure seems like a power thing as it never happens while in use. I turned off auto restart on BSOD so I'm hoping to get more info that way.

it really sounds as if the drive is sleeping then not being able to be woken by the BIOS when it comes out of inactivity.

one last thing to check however, its possible its another device sleeping causing this behavior. make sure that video and sound drivers are up to date and NOT microsoft drivers. (get them from the manufacturers instead)

similar issues are very common for nVidia graphic cards using the microsoft drivers.

Manage projects of all sizes how you want. Great for personal to-do lists, project milestones, team priorities and launch plans.
- Combine task lists, docs, spreadsheets, and chat in one
- View and edit from mobile/offline
- Cut down on emails

It is going to be a long week-end, why not burn an Ubuntu live CD, boot to it (DO NOT INSTALL IT), the just go to some website that auto-updates every once in a while. If system is still running, then you can point to microsoft as being the culprit and consider a fresh new O/S installation as solution.

I don't have absolute confirmation but it certainly appears to be a flaw in the Corsair SSD. I see many others with the exact same problem but no fix from Corsair. OCZ drive replacement doesn't have the same problem - works fine. Buyer Beware on the Corsair SSD I guess.

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